Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Week of June
22-28, 2015

We had a week of winter here in Teófilo Otoni and it was great, especially during the day. The temperatures (in Fahrenheit) got down to the high 50’s at
night and stayed in the low 70’s during the day. The native Brazilian’s were all wearing coats and
when we shook their hands they were cold. We are just hoping that by the time summer
comes we are more Brazilian than American.

President and
Sister Young (the mission president and his wife) were in Teófilo Otoni on Tuesday
this week for missionary interviews.
Knowing they were coming several weeks ago, I had asked Sister Young to pick up some Peter Pan
peanut butter from Sam's Club (as they shop there) in Vitória, as it is not available in Teófilo Otoni. They were kind enough to bring 6 jars so we now have at least a half years supply of peanut butter. Elder Burkinshaw does not like peanut butter as much as I do, so I will use
his half to make cookies for the missionaries and members. We had a nice visit with President
Young but were a little envious when
they drove up in a new car since every three
years they change out missionary cars (and theirs are the only two cars in the whole mission). Since Sister Young is not interested in driving in Brazil, one of the cars remains at the mission office in Vitória. As President Young has explored options for
us to have a car (using the extra car one of them), he said he received a note from someone in the Area Office in Sao
Paulo specifically instructing that they were the only ones approved to use the
cars, so obviously letting us use the other car isn’t an option either - darn! I have to admit when President Young asked if there was anything we needed, I said, “a car”. I know I'm a little rebellious, but President
Young always tells us he has a little of that in him also, so I figured I wouldn’t be sent
home (maybe I was secretly hoping I would be - ar, arr, arr). We did have a nice visit with the Youngs, and Sister Young gave me her
perspective on missionary work, which I found to be quite accurate; “The days seem long,
but the weeks are short”; and how very true that is.
Just a little side note on this experience and to show you how
thoughtful our younger missionaries are:
Elder Moreira (the district leader) called us on Monday evening about
9:00pm, as we were walking home from an appointment, to let us know about our
interviews the next morning. At first he
said it would be at 8:00am. A few
minutes later he called back and told us we needed to be there at 10:00am. It turned out we had the last interviews and
Elder Moreira, ever the great leader, took the 8:00am appointment, which means
he had to leave his house about 7:00am to be there a few minutes early. These young Elders are impressive!!

The first batch of cookies with peanut butter from Sam's Club.

As we visit the homes of members to have a family home evening with them to get to know them better, one of the themes that has emerged is a common desire for these families to go to the temple. We have ordered materials so we can begin teaching a monthly or bi-monthly Temple Preparation class. As
we talk about the blessings of the temple and the sacrifices required to be worthy to go to the temple, Elder Burkinshaw and I are reminded of how much we miss
our monthly work weekend at the temple.
We miss the peace, the people and the reminder of the promises made with
a loving Heavenly Father. As we observe the challenges in these two branches, we see how focusing on the temple can become an overarching source of strength and unity for the members as it was to the early Saints preparing to cross the plains.
Temple covenants not only bind us to our Heavenly Father, but provide
peace and strength in times of trial. Sarah Rich, the wife
of Charles C. Rich, wrote in her journal how important the temple endowment in Nauvoo was
in helping them endure the hardships on the pioneer trek. “If it had not been
for the faith and knowledge that was bestowed upon us in that temple . . . , our
journey would have been like . . . taking a leap in the dark” (Sarah DeArmon
Pea Rich, “Autobiography, 1885–1893,” Family and Church History Department
Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 66).

For the Saints here in Teófilo Otoni, the trip to the temple in Campinas is like going from Oklahoma to the temple in Salt Lake. For the most recent temple trip (they call it a "caravana"), they left Nanuque in a bus at about 4:00am on Monday morning, stopped to pick up members in Teófilo Otoni at about 8:00am and arrived in São Paulo about 2:00am the next morning. It's not possible to do that often so they schedule a caravana at the end of June and the end of January, but the blessings that result are tremendous.The process of providing strength to the
church is simple, but is not easy for many. We are thankful for the opportunity we had
to work in the temple and to
hold a current recommend even though we cannot use it right now. We recognize that the key to growth here in
Teófilo Otoni is the TEMPLE.We had such a sweet visit with a young couple (below) on Monday night who have not been to the temple yet and left knowing of their
desire to prepare to have those blessings.I cannot express strongly enough how much we need the temple and how
much the work that is done there is needed—it is definitely a win, win
experience.

Rayssa, Diego and Kaleb Fraga family. Diego served in the Brasil Cuiabá Mission.

We had another
great birthday (anniversário) celebration this week.We celebrated with dinner and cake at a
member’s home.The YM President in the Teófilo Otoni branch and Elder Morreira, our District Leader, both had a birthday so of course a celebration was in
order.We had several new members there to
fellowship and it was a beautiful cool evening out on the patio.We also learned the mother of the family, Rosimeire, is a
twin and her twin (who is not a member of the church) and her family were
there.It was a fun evening and we were
reminded again of what good people these are and how very welcoming they are.

Our English class
continues to go well.We have several
non-members attending and they seem to be enjoying the association with the
members as well as the opportunity to learn English.We aren’t able to do a lot of contacting on
the streets except when a Brazilian who wants to practice their English
recognizes we are American and is brave enough to stop us and visit.We always invite them to church and to our English class. Several of the class members are very dedicated and some actually are picking it up pretty quickly.This week, in one of my classes, the lesson was
on “Talking About Your Health” and we learned how to tell someone when you’re
sick.For example “I have a fever", or "I
have a headache”, and "I need to go home" or "I need to see a doctor."On Sunday the branch president’s wife, Andrea,
who is in the class, came up to me and told me (in English) that her son, João
Pedro, had a fever and was at home.She
was so excited that she had actually remembered how to pronounce “fever”.We are making good progress and hopefully
those who aren’t members are having a good experience with the members.

These next pictures
are for the grandkids. I looked out the
front window of our house one morning this week and saw horses just slowly
making their way down the road looking for something to eat. We have come across their tracks (poop
tracks) while walking and always wondered where it came from. Now we know, somebody must be letting them
loose to find food and then gathering them up at the end of the day. Grandpa (Elder Burkinshaw) isn’t very happy when he finds their "tracks" while walking home at night in the dark!! Also we are including a better picture of the
three-toed sloth we took in the Praca a few weeks ago.
One of the members of the branch here had also taken a picture with a telephoto lense.

After English class
on Saturday night we took the Elder’s out for Pizza where a member of the Teófilo Otoni branch ward works, Irmã Claudia. We have visited her several times and she has been coming to church the past few
weeks. She normally works in the back taking telephone orders, but she came out to visit with us and her boss took pictures for us.On Sunday, we recognized another person we met at the Pizzaria at Church, which turned out to be a blessing for us both. So although we thought we were going for pizza for Claudia, perhaps the Lord was guiding us with an additional plan in mind.

We treated the Elders to pizza Saturday night after our English Class.

We received the Father's day gift in the mail this week. As you can see from the picture we hung the framed pictures in the Living room. The frames matched perfectly and everyone who walks in the door goes right to the family picture. By Brazilian standards we have a "familia grande" meaning big family, although we think they are pretty grand also. The package was at the nearby post office so we were excited that the walk was relatively short to pick it up. However, we weren't so excited about what it cost us to pick up the package. My mother's day package didn't cost us anything so we were caught by surprise when we had to pay a tax based on both the declared value of the contents and the US postage to ship the package. So in the end, we paid another 100% of the cost to purchase and send the package. Thus, we suggest not sending anymore packages to us unless it is something we absolutely need and cannot get here (such as hard contact lense solution). Priority shipping only reduces the time by a few days but greatly increases the odds that the package will be taxed so just use a plain brown box with the lowest postage available. And assume anything you purchase was bought on clearance from Walmart for the customs declaration and be general in the description. Even though they were expensive for both you and for us, we do love the pictures, the candy and the new tie.

Elder Burkinshaw studying with the framed pictures on the wall. They really do add a nice touch to our home here in Teófilo Otoni!!

We continue to be
amazed at the hospitality of the Brazilian people and the work ethic and
devotion of our young missionaries. The Teófilo
Otoni economy has shifted in recent years from the "precious gem" (pedras preciosas) trade to a greater dependence on higher education, with several large universities being established here. The Brazilian economy didn't suffer the same decline as much of the rest of the world in 2008-10 but unfortunately it is experiencing recession and significant inflation along with political turmoil which you may read about in the news. This creates challenges for the community in general and many of our members. But having the perspective of living prophets helps us remember that even in the midst of problems, life can be and should be good. At another time of challenge for the world President Hinckley made the following statement:

"Are these perilous times? They are. But there is no need to fear. We can have peace in our hearts and peace in our homes. We can be an influence for good in this world, every one of us.... Our safety lies in repentance. Our strength comes of obedience to the commandments of God." (Gordon B. Hinckley, "The Times in Which We Live", Ensign, November 2001, 55).

Following the prophet, despite the challenges to religious freedom and economic hard times is the only path to peace in both our hearts and homes. We love you all
and appreciate the many prayers offered on our behalf.

1 comment:

We got our temple assignment! We are the weekend of the 4th week. We will work Friday evening and all day Saturday. We begin in July. Looking forward to the experience. Look forward to your blog every week. Sounds like you're getting your exercise! You're amazing! K&P Morris